The Caps’ last game before the All-Star Break began crackling with excitement, but quickly settled into the quiet urgency of a bunch of guys eager to get home for a long weekend. They couldn’t even manage to do that well, as the Caps squandered an early, healthy lead and lost in the gimmick.

Alex Ovechkin scored twice in the first period, first with a slapper on a delayed penalty and then again with an Ovi shot from the Ovi spot. Edmonton’s own number eight, Derek Roy, returned fire by beating Matt Niskanen to the niskanet. Before we hit intermission, Jay Beagle scored and there was much rejoicing.

Nikita Nikitin put the Oilers within one goal late in the second period while Niskanen was in the box.

In the third, Nick Backstrom tipped in John Carlson’s long bomb to put Edmonton back in the two-goal hole where they belong, though I guess maybe we forgot to tell them that. Teddy Purcell got a quick little snapper to Holtby’s far side to make 4-3 in the final five minutes, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tied it in the final 100 seconds, forcing overtime. Overtime didn’t do nuffin, so you know what’s next.

The Caps lost two in a row in a rather frustrating weekend. I liked how the Caps played for the most part, but there’s some saggy-ness in the defense that the team will need to fix if they want to beat the–

Oh, nevermind. It’s just the Edmonton Oilers.

You’re all clear, Caps, now let’s blow this thing and go to the All-Star break. 7 PM on CSN.

Mike Green scored a gorgeous one early in the second period, but a whiff by Ovechkin set Ryan Nugent-Hopkins loose to tie it up just twenty second later. With Jason Chimera in the box, Nikita Nikitin got one past a screened Braden Holtby to give the Oilers the lead.

The Caps fired furiously in the third, but couldn’t beat Ben Scrivens.

So begins the Capitals’ sojourn through western Canada, home of mostly bad hockey teams. We start with the Edmonton Oilers, a team who are probably a lot better than their record seems. It’ll be a late game– puck drops after 9:30 PM, so make sure you do all your homework first.

The Capitals are off and away on their grand Canadian adventure, and expectations are running high. As Peter noted, the team is looking healthy, playing tighter than they have in a while, and still undefeated in regular play.

Even better, first on our dance card are the Edmonton Oilers, who are not healthy, not playing tight and largely the definition of defeat lately. Plus, they have to spend much of their time in Edmonton, so there’s that, too.

We had a whole schtick worked up about Edmonton the Annoying – perhaps we’ll save it for next time, it was actually funny, which we admit is unusual for us. But sadly, in light of what appears to be a very bad no good day for all Canadians, and even the smart choice to cancel tonight’s scheduled Leafs/Sens match, we just don’t feel like making fun of anyone today, Canadians especially.

So here we give you Oiler insight from “baggedmilk”, a cheeky writer up at the OilersNation blog. He’s smart, even if our questions aren’t. Hit him up on Twitter @jsbmbaggedmilk; you can thank us later.

The Washington Capitals got their road trip off to a rocky yet successful start in Winnipeg on Tuesday. The hope was that the Caps could feed at the trough of Canada’s weaker teams to kick off their jaunt and maybe get back to .500. No better team to feed on than the Edmonton Oilers.

Alex Ovechkin wrapped up a sleepy first period with his 10th goal in 10 games: a quick wrister off the faceoff. Joel Ward crashed the net in the second to tip in John Carlson’s shot from the blue line. Nick Backstrom finished a great series from Ovechkin and Johansson early in the third to make it 3-0. Native son Jason Chimera wowed his family and friends with a gorgeous skill goal in the final 10 minutes.

Justin Schultz got a garbage goal in garbage time to bust up the shutout.

Shut up with your 1-4 record. When the Washington Capitals suited up to face the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night, their sole purpose was to rid themselves of the abysmal record they shared with a certain other Washington team. An explosive second period helped them do just that.

Edmonton’s Boyd Gordon scored first, seizing on a bad breakout by the Caps. After some feisty forechecking by the second line and Steve Oleksy on the blue, Brooks Laich scored his first of the year– a point-blank wrister.

The second period was a flurry of PPGs as Joel Ward knocked on the back door and Troy Brouwer got a one-timer from the slot. In the middle of that tasty man-advantage sandwich was a mean-ass slot goal from Alex Ovechkin.

So when the Capitals were whistled for NINE penalties in two periods of play (four in the first, five in the second), it kinda went with the theme of the evening. One of those penalties, a Troy Brouwer hook, led to Edmonton’s game-winning goal. Goodbye, 82-0 season. Haha.

“You have to adjust when you’re out there,” a remarkably calm Bruce Boudreau explained after the game. “You have to know who the ref is. If they’re calling it loose… okay. But if they’re calling every little thing, it’s up to the players to be able to adjust to it. In the rulebook, they’re penalties. Some people call it. Some people don’t. You get to know pretty early if they’re calling it and who’s going to call what.”

Sure, I guess. Well, with the power of photo and video, let’s take a closer look at some of Auger and O’Halloran’s — um, brilliant — work from last night.

On their first long road trip of the season, the Washington Capitals encountered some trouble from the Edmonton Oilers. With a perfect record so far, there was a lot on the line in the Canadian wilderness.

Karl Alzner opened it up with a wicked wrister from beyond the circles. Then, on the second 4-on-3 of the first period, Taylor Hall snuck one in from the back door. Jordan Eberle took a powerplay rebound and turned it into a goal. That’s it. Oilers end the Capitals streak 2-1.

Some things: they’re easy to hate. Cancer. James Mitchner novels. The Fanny Pack Family and their adorable moppets blocking the wrong side of the Metro escalators. Other things, it’s tougher. Like puppies. Or Canadians.

The Low Down: Seriously, it’s kinda hard to lay the h8 against our drunken, fur-trapping in-laws to the north, no? Geez, they’re just so gosh-darned cute, what with their doughnuts and whale-blubber lamps and huge land mass and commitment to human rights and all? Ah-DOR-able. Eh? But then there’s the Edmonton Oilers (4-2-2, 2nd in Northwest Division). For them we’ll make an exception.

The Legacy: If you’re under the age of 25, go stand in the corner and Google “Oilers 80’s.” Of course, that was then; the era of Sather and Gretzky and the rest winning the cup five times are long gone. These days the Oilers don’t so much strike fear in the hearts of opponents as they do sadness. So far this season, Edmonton is alone at the bottom of goals per game (1.7) of all NHL teams. And, until Tuesday at least, it looked like they couldn’t win a game in their own division. Of course, not all is bitter tears for the Oilers.